The Oulton Park Gold Cup has a long history in the Harbey family. It was a regular September trip in the 60s as a non-championship Formula 1 race where my hero, Jim Clark, would drive his Lotus on the Gold Cup, then jump into the works Lotus Cortina for the touring car race that ended the day.

The paddock facilities – that’s Moss’s winning Ferguson in 1961 - and the grandstands have come on somewhat since then ! Full disclosure – that’s my younger brother and my uncle on the Standard Ten.

Back to 2020 and I was looking forward to the relatively light body and lens combination. Of course, there would be a price to pay in quality, but how much ? I headed first to the outside of the track at Cascades – opposite where we used to sit atop the Standard Ten or later Triumph Herald.

With the light at my back and an effective maximum zoom of 450mm (FX lens on DX body) I should be well placed for some panning shots. 

It would be fair to say that there were less keepers than my usual equipment. I did take some on a slightly faster 1/320^thshutter speed rather than a more usual 1/250^th or even 1/200^th there, but there are some decent results.

Following the cars further round the corner loses the spectators in the background.

The run into Cascades offers a good overtaking point or allows for some monochrome or Dutch Tilt creativity.

Walking back up towards the first corner, Old Hall, offers a branded shot in front of the Fogarty Moss Centre (which certainly wasn’t there in the 60s !) or the spectators again.

The 70s Road Sports had been followed by Historic Formula Juniors – a well-supported category and for which the Gold Cup would be awarded this year. These are classic 60s shape single seaters – unspoilt by aerodynamic necessities.

In this section between The Avenue and Dentons you are close to the track on either side but it does mean that the cars are going quicker as you pan …

The third race of the day both promised much and delivered, up to a point. The Dunlop Saloon Car Cup caters for Saloons right up to the Supertouring cars of the turn of the century.

These cars were developed at huge cost and needed huge budgets to run them. So, it was perhaps not surprising that he numbers racing have dwindled over the years. Even so, an entry of 9 cars was disappointing … made worse when a couple of them failed early in the race.

Having said that – who doesn’t like flames – accompanied by rifle shots on each gear change !

Ric Wood has now built two of these R32 Skylines with a third (to be in iconic HKS livery) due soon. I’d moved up to 1/500^th for a couple of these shots.

As you will see, I had got as far as the start/ finish area for the saloons and kept to the outside of the track for the Historic Formula Ford race – one of a number for various eras of Formula Ford over the weekend.

In the PistonClick guide to Oulton Park we note that there is fencing at Lodge (P on the map). There is, if you have a decent zoom, a small gap above the fence.

I walked up to a new location for me, behind the fence at Lodge Corner to the right of the grandstand. There’s a great head on shot of the cars all the way from Druids to Lodge.

Walk round the corner and there is a clear panning shot of the cars taking Lodge. I returned here on Monday morning with the warm sun on my back and beautiful light to work with.

Next was the Thundersports race, which again promised much with both a McLaren M8F and March 717 – big banger sports cars of the highest order – on the entry.

Except that the McLaren failed on Saturday in qualifying and the March hit something early on in the race. The remaining cars however put on a great race.

In the bottom of Deer Leap, it’s possible to take a few steps back and get creative with the trees and monochrome.

Oulton Park also has a viewing bank above pit in and there’s room for more creativity as the cars return after the race. Of course, I planned it ! Errm, no, just a happy coincidence to get the driver reflected in the rear view mirror and a bit of clever post production work.

I was inspired by a photo by Richard Towler on Instagram (rtowlerphoto) that sent me to the collecting area ahead of the next race. I wouldn’t be able to access the area, of course, but I was able to get some shots through the fence.

I also like shots of crash helmets, especially where they are colourful and dramatic.

The Aurora Trophy for F1, F5000 and F2 cars again rather disappointed with a smallish entry. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t some good fast racing, of course. The red #24 is the ex-Ronnie Peterson March 712 which raced at Oulton Park in period.

So, how do I view the day with the D3400 ? All in all pretty well. As I have said above, I had  fewer keepers although to be fair to the equipment I was pretty much asking it to do the same as I would with my normal kit.

With the body and lens costing less than many phones, I’d suggest that it offers much better images if you want a record of your day out, especially when the subject is fast moving. 

This is the Lotus 20/22 of Syd Fraser in the second Formula Junior race – for some reason in-BRM look-a-like livery.

For photos with my Pro kit taken on Monday - including more GT-Rs shooting flames like the one below - please see the albums on my Flickr account.

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